DDX21

What is DDX21 Protein?

DDX21 is a pretty crucial protein in our cells. Imagine it as a helper that unwinds and manages RNA, making sure RNA processing, ribosome building, and gene expression go smoothly. You'll usually find DDX21 hanging out in the nucleolus, doing its part by processing rRNA to help put together ribosomes. Plus, it has a hand in shaping DNA-protein complexes which impact gene activity. People are looking at DDX21 closely these days, especially in connection to cancers, since it's tied to how cells grow and multiply. So, if DDX21 isn't doing its thing right, it could be a big deal for understanding health issues like cancer.

What is the Function of DDX21 Protein?

DDX21 is quite the multitasker in cell biology. It’s like the RNA manager, helping to unwind RNA structures so the cell can process RNA properly. Its main hangout is the nucleolus, where it’s super involved in making ribosomes by handling ribosomal RNA (rRNA) processing. This function is crucial because ribosomes are the cell's protein factories. Beyond this, DDX21 plays a part in controlling how genes are expressed by influencing the architecture of chromatin, which is how DNA is packed in the cell. Intriguingly, it’s linked to cell growth and division, which makes it a hot topic in cancer research. Scientists are buzzing about it because if DDX21's role gets disrupted, it could help explain some mechanisms behind cancer development. So, understanding DDX21 better might open doors to new cancer treatments.

DDX21 Related Signaling Pathway

DDX21 is like a central node in the intricate network of cell signaling pathways. One way it makes its mark is by interacting with ribosomal RNA (rRNA), which plays a big part in assembling ribosomes, the cell's protein-making machines. But DDX21 doesn’t stop there; it also influences gene expression by reshaping chromatin structures. Interestingly, this chromatin remodeling can tie into pathways regulating cell proliferation and stress responses. In cancer research, DDX21 has caught scientists' attention because it might affect signaling pathways that control cancer cell growth and spread. By understanding how DDX21 fits into these pathways, researchers hope to uncover new insights into cancer biology and potentially identify novel therapeutic targets. This multifaceted role of DDX21 in both cell maintenance and disease states makes it a fascinating subject in molecular biology studies.

DDX21 Related Diseases

DDX21 is turning heads in the medical field due to its connection with various diseases. Take cancer, for example—this protein seems to play a role in how cancer cells grow and spread. It’s all about how DDX21 regulates RNA processing and gene expression, which are crucial for cell function. If DDX21 gets out of whack, it might help tumors develop and thrive. Beyond cancer, DDX21 is also linked to viral infections. Viruses can latch onto DDX21 to replicate and take over the cell machinery. Targeting DDX21 might offer new angles for treating these conditions, which is why researchers are paying close attention. With its involvement in key biological processes, DDX21 has become an exciting focal point for understanding and potentially treating complex diseases.

Bioapplications of DDX21

DDX21 is getting a lot of buzz in biotech circles for its potential impact on health science. Its role in RNA processing and gene control makes it a target for cancer therapies. By messing with how DDX21 helps build ribosomes, scientists are hoping to throw a wrench in cancer cells’ growth plans. This could pave the way for better cancer treatments. But the excitement doesn’t stop there. DDX21 is also tied to viral replication, which has researchers thinking about new ways to stop viruses in their tracks. By figuring out how viruses hijack DDX21, there’s a chance to block these interactions and develop powerful antiviral drugs. With its dual role in cancer and virus research, DDX21 is a hot keyword in the bioapplications scene, promising fresh solutions to some tough health problems.

Case Study 1: Miao W. et al. Cell. 2023

Glucose is not just about energy—it's also a key player in how proteins interact, especially during cell differentiation. Azido-glucose click chemistry revealed that glucose hooks up with RNA binding proteins like DDX21 RNA helicase, crucial for skin cell differentiation. When glucose binds to DDX21, it changes the protein's shape, halting its helicase function and breaking its dimers apart. As cells differentiate, increased glucose levels shift DDX21 from the nucleolus to the nucleoplasm, where it joins forces with RNA splicing factors. This interaction is glucose-dependent and crucial for splicing pro-differentiation genes like GRHL3, KLF4, OVOL1, and RBPJ. These insights shed light on glucose's role in tweaking DDX21's function, vital for tissue differentiation.

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  Fig1. MST of dimerization mutant DDX21611R binding to ATP ±350 μM glucose.
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  Fig2. Cell components enrichment in proteins from DDX21 proximal proteomes.

Case Study 2: Hao JD. et al. Mol Cell. 2024

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) plays a big role in how RNA functions in human cells, but there’s still a lot to unpack, especially during RNA transcription. Researchers learned that DDX21, an RNA helicase, helps guide m6A to newly made RNA. It works with METTL3 and gets it to latch onto chromatin by spotting R-loops—those little twists that happen when DNA and RNA interact during transcription. DDX21's action is crucial for placing m6A in the right spot, which is important for wrapping up transcription correctly. If anything goes wrong with DDX21, METTL3, or their tasks, it can lead to problems with ending transcription and even cause DNA damage. So, the teamwork between R-loops, DDX21, and METTL3 seems to be key for smoothly tagging RNA with m6A and keeping everything stable.

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  Fig3. Co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP) assays demonstrating the interaction between FLAG- or Myc-tagged DDX21 and SFB-METTL3.
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  Fig4. In vitro biotin pull-down assay revealing that R-loops interact with METTL3 through DDX21.

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  Fig1. R-loop-DDX21-METTL3 nexus forges the missing link for co-transcriptional modification of m6A, coordinating transcription termination and genome stability. (Jin-Dong Hao, 2024)
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  Fig2. Proposed model for the regulation of innate immunity by DDX21 cleavage during virus infection. (Wei Wu, 2021)

DDX21 has several biochemical functions, for example, 7SK snRNA binding,ATP binding,ATP-dependent RNA helicase activity. Some of the functions are cooperated with other proteins, some of the functions could acted by DDX21 itself. We selected most functions DDX21 had, and list some proteins which have the same functions with DDX21. You can find most of the proteins on our site.

Function	Related Protein
poly(A) RNA binding	PPIL4,COA6,MRPL9,RPS19BP1,POLR2A,RPL28,RPL15,GPATCH8,HIST2H4,TRIM25
7SK snRNA binding	HEXIM1,HEXIM2
ATP binding	NLRP5,CAMK1DB,MAPK13,CKMB,INSR,KIAA1804,NOD1,UBE2IB,DHX33,BMPR1AB
protein binding	CRB1,CMKLR1,HS3ST5,IL7,SF3B3,MSH2,GCM1,PUM2,RUNX1T1,ITGA4
double-stranded RNA binding	RFTN1,AGO3,HSPD1,TLR8,DHX36,OASL1,DHX58,DDX58,LSM14A,DROSHA
rRNA binding	MRPS17,FASTKD5,TLR13,MTERFD2,RPS4Y1,DIEXF,ERI1,MRPL20,RPF2,RPL11
snoRNA binding	UTP15,HEATR1,NOP14,NHP2,IMP3,PWP2H,NUDT16,WDR3,TBL3,NUDT7
ATP-dependent RNA helicase activity	SKIV2L,DDX53,DHX35,DHX15,SUPV3L1,FAM120B,DHX8,DDX41,DDX27,DDX39AA

DDX21 has direct interactions with proteins and molecules. Those interactions were detected by several methods such as yeast two hybrid, co-IP, pull-down and so on. We selected proteins and molecules interacted with DDX21 here. Most of them are supplied by our site. Hope this information will be useful for your research of DDX21.

YBX1;JUN;KPNA3;TERF2;SRPK2;ESR1;TOP1;RTCA;PSTPIP1